Will music therapists be replaced by AI?
Updated
Music therapists score 40 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 63%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over 10% outright, and 27% stays with people.
- 10% AI can do it
- 63% AI helps
- 27% Needs a person
Moderate exposure
Higher than 53% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 30 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 3 of them today, speeds up 19 and leaves 8 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Document evaluations, treatment plans, case summaries, or progress or other reports related to individual clients or client groups. AI scribes and drafting tools write notes and reports; therapist reviews. | 72% AI can do it |
| Communicate client assessment findings and recommendations in oral, written, audio, video, or other forms. AI drafts written and multimedia reports from assessment notes. | 62% AI can do it |
| Compose, arrange, or adapt music for music therapy treatments. AI music tools can compose and arrange adapted songs; therapist reviews. | 60% AI can do it |
| Analyze data to determine the effectiveness of specific treatments or therapy approaches. AI tools can run analyses and summarize outcome data; therapist interprets. | 55% AI helps |
| Analyze or synthesize client data to draw conclusions or make recommendations for therapy. AI can synthesize records and surface patterns; conclusions need clinician. | 50% AI helps |
| Apply current technology to music therapy practices. AI tools can support music, records and scheduling; adoption is selective. | 48% AI helps |
| Design music therapy experiences, using various musical elements to meet client's goals or objectives. AI can propose musical elements for goals; therapist selects. | 45% AI helps |
| Establish client goals or objectives for music therapy treatment, considering client needs, capabilities, interests, overall therapeutic program, coordination of treatment, or length of treatment. AI can suggest goals from history; clinician sets and is responsible for them. | 45% AI helps |
| Adapt existing or develop new music therapy assessment instruments or procedures to meet an individual client's needs. AI can draft assessment tools and procedures; clinician validates fit. | 45% AI helps |
| Conduct, or assist in the conduct of, music therapy research. AI can help with literature, coding and drafts; design and ethics stay human. | 45% AI helps |
Show the other 20 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Observe and document client reactions, progress, or other outcomes related to music therapy. AI can structure session notes; observing reactions stays human. | 42% AI helps |
| Apply selected research findings to practice. AI can summarize research and suggest applications to practice. | 42% AI helps |
| Customize treatment programs for specific areas of music therapy, such as intellectual or developmental disabilities, educational settings, geriatrics, medical settings, mental health, physical disabilities, or wellness. AI can draft population-specific program outlines from templates. | 40% AI helps |
| Gather diagnostic data from sources such as case documentation, observations of clients, or interviews with clients or family members. AI can summarize case files; interviews and observation stay human. | 38% AI helps |
| Plan or structure music therapy sessions to achieve appropriate transitions, pacing, sequencing, energy level, or intensity in accordance with treatment plans. AI can suggest session sequencing; pacing is judged live. | 38% AI helps |
| Participate in continuing education. AI can summarize courses and quiz; attending and practice stay human. | 35% AI helps |
| Integrate behavioral, developmental, improvisational, medical, or neurological approaches into music therapy treatments. AI can explain approaches and suggest integration; clinician applies them. | 35% AI helps |
| Design or provide music therapy experiences to address client needs, such as using music for self-care, adjusting to life changes, improving cognitive functioning, raising self-esteem, communicating, or controlling impulses. AI can draft session plans; live delivery stays with therapist. | 30% AI helps |
| Assess client functioning levels, strengths, and areas of need in terms of perceptual, sensory, affective, communicative, musical, physical, cognitive, social, spiritual, or other abilities. Structured screening tools help, but direct observation drives assessment. | 30% AI helps |
| Conduct information sharing sessions, such as in-service workshops for other professionals, potential client groups, or the general community. AI can draft slides and handouts; delivering workshops stays live. | 30% AI helps |
| Confer with professionals on client's treatment team to develop, coordinate, or integrate treatment plans. AI can summarize notes for team meetings; discussion is human. | 25% AI helps |
| Collaborate with others to design or implement interdisciplinary treatment programs. AI can draft shared program materials; collaboration is interpersonal. | 25% AI helps |
| Assess the risks and benefits of treatment termination for clients. Termination risk judgement depends on clinical relationship and ethics. | 20% Needs a person |
| Select or adapt musical instruments, musical equipment, or non-musical materials, such as adaptive devices or visual aids, to meet treatment objectives. Choosing and handling physical instruments and adaptive devices is hands-on. | 18% Needs a person |
| Supervise staff, volunteers, practicum students, or interns engaged in music therapy activities. Supervising people and giving feedback is interpersonal and accountable. | 15% Needs a person |
| Engage clients in music experiences to identify client responses to different styles of music, types of musical experiences, such as improvising or listening, or elements of music, such as tempo or harmony. Live client responses to music need in-person sensing and judgement. | 12% Needs a person |
| Communicate with clients to build rapport, acknowledge their progress, or reflect upon their reactions to musical experiences. Live rapport and reflection depends on in-person human connection. | 8% Needs a person |
| Identify and respond to emergency physical or mental health situations. Emergency response requires immediate physical and clinical presence. | 8% Needs a person |
| Sing or play musical instruments, such as keyboard, guitar, or percussion instruments. Live singing and playing instruments needs the therapist's body. | 4% Needs a person |
| Improvise instrumentally, vocally, or physically to meet client's therapeutic needs. Live improvisation with the client requires physical, real-time musicianship. | 4% Needs a person |
How music therapists compare
All occupations (923)
Healthcare practitioners and technical (89)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Median pay
- $77,930 a year, May 2025
- People employed
- 11,320 in the US, May 2025
- Projected change in jobs
- +12.6% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Run live singing and instrument improvisation in sessions
- Document treatment plans in Electronic health record EHR software
- Adapt songs with Avid Technology Pro Tools and MIDI software
- Read client responses to music in real time
- Hold clinical judgement on outcome data before reports go out
- Supervise practicum students and sign off their clinical notes
Safer roles nearby
5 related occupations with lower scores.
Questions about music therapists and AI
Will AI replace music therapists?
Partly. About 3 in 10 working hours for a music therapist go to tasks AI can already do, mostly documenting evaluations and treatment plans and drafting client reports. Live singing, instrument playing, improvisation, and in-room rapport stay with the therapist because they need a person present with the client.
Which music therapist tasks is AI taking over?
Documentation and drafting take the most exposure. Writing evaluations, treatment plans, and progress reports scores 72 on exposure, so AI scribes now produce first drafts that the therapist reviews. Composing and arranging adapted songs, scoring 60, is also moving to AI music tools, with the therapist checking the result.
Which music therapist tasks stay human?
Live performance and client contact stay with the therapist. Singing and playing instruments score 4 on exposure, and improvising with a client scores 4, because both need the therapist's body and real-time musicianship. Emergency response and supervising interns, scoring 8 and 15, also depend on a person being present.
Which music therapist tasks stay human?
Live performance and client contact stay with the therapist. Singing and playing instruments score 4 on exposure, and improvising with a client also scores 4, because both need the therapist's body and real-time musicianship. Emergency response and supervising interns, scoring 8 and 15, also depend on a person being present.
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